High security psychiatric hospital Broadmoor, where criminals such as the Yorkshire Ripper are held, has been accused of 'holding on to celebrity prisoners' when they should instead be in ordinary prisons.

Tony Maden, a highly respected psychiatrist and former head of the Dangerous
Severe Personality Disorder (DSPD) unit at Broadmoor, in Berkshire, said the hospital was an 'expensive anachronism'.

He said patients such as Peter Sutcliffe who was dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper and jailed for 20 life sentences, should be sent back to jail.

High security hospital psychiatric Broadmoor, where criminals such as the Yorkshire Ripper are held, has been accused of 'holding on to celebrity prisoners' when they should be in prison

Professor
Maden, professor of forensic psychiatry at Imperial College London, told the Independent on Sunday: 'We are far too ready to keep mentally disordered prisoners in
places like Broadmoor indefinitely, particularly if they are famous.

'I
think it's about celebrity, I can't think of any other reason why a
hospital would want to hang on to somebody when essentially the
condition is stable.'

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He said Sutcliffe was
not the only one who should be in prison rather than a hospital unit. He said Moors murderer Ian Brady - currently in Ashworth on
Merseyside - should be in prison as he believes he does not have schizophrenia either.

He added: 'If the name of either of these two
were Joe Bloggs they would have been back in prison a long, long time
ago.'

Tony Maden, a former psychiatrist at Broadmoor, said Peter Sutcliffe (left) and Moors murderer Ian Brady (right) should be in prison rather than a hospital unit, where they could be held for a fraction of the cost

Prof Maden said the hospital was lagging behind the modern ideas on treatment, and was becoming increasingly inefficient, with recruiting and keeping nursing staff a huge problem. He also said the quality of nursing staff was low at Broadmoor.

He claimed that the argument that offenders such as Brady and Sutcliffe could be attacked was not valid and that they were 'not unique' in being targets.

He said they could be better managed in prison for much less money.

Broadmoor - now in its 150th year - will feature in a documentary due to be aired on Channel 5 tomorrow.

Prof Maden will appear on the show and claim that Sutcliffe is no longer mentally ill and that he agrees with a decision to shut down the DSPD unit.

The West London Mental
Health NHS Trust runs Broadmoor.

It said in a statement that each patient was subject to an
independent mental health tribunal every three years to determine
whether they still need to be held in high security conditions, and that it was 'absurd' to say Broadmoor only treats patients who
are 'high profile'.

The Victorian building will be replaced by a new, £115m
hospital due to open in 2017.